Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-15

EANEMNAE&aLN W. N-
%&&M%NS OF Peck'S Sun and
%%%#M~8SASSS the inventor of
W%%##E#%W.IAI the bad boy"
GEORGE W. PECK. literature, over
whose life there is a glamour OF romance.
This structure is a stone mansion, situated
in the center Of beautiful grounds on the
picturesque bluff which holds the stately
ediice high above the lake. Mr.. feck Is
handsome, middle aged man, WIN a
full. frank face, a high forehead and mer-
re-. twipkling, grayish eyes. lie Is one oil
the few humOriSts of this country wno Has
a capacity for business rs well as iOr lun'
Ten or twelve years ago MIR. Peck d'dn
own u nick or chick in this world rs lie
expresses it. To-day he is rated as one OF
the rich men of Wisconsin; owns among
other things, a big newspaper, u mansion
for a residence, a block or two Of houses,
considerable other city real estate, a private
Yacht and a summer resort hotel OF his
own When the fact is taken into consid-
Grafton that Mr.. Peck has acquired his
handsome fortune solely by the drops OF
ink shed from his industrious pen in the
short time of six or seven years, he Justly
takes rank rs one Of the remarkable men
of the country. For years he battled
against great odds and hard luck, but .
stoke of good fortune turned the tide and
for several years past he has been riding
on the tOpmOst wave.
1t is probably not known TO more than
n dozen people outside Of Mr.. Pcck's Of
flee that /, 800, 600 copies Of his books have
been sold, and most of this great number
in less than six years time. This gives
him a distinction not possessed by any
other individual in this country. His
latest work, GLOW Private Peck Put Down
the Rebellion" was issued quite recently
and large numbers are being sold. The
appearance Of this book at this lime adds
renewpd Interest to Mr.. Pcck's remarkable
record as an author. The last is the
sixth book that Mr.. Peck has pub
lishcd. All Of them are straight
reprints from articles in the columns
of his paper. The most successful of these
books were the three relating to his BAD
Boy" OF the original book 800, eco copies
have been sold directly by the publishers.
BESIDES large numbers of pirated editions
were issued and sold in Canada, England,
Germany and other countries. The books
of Mr.. Peck's publishers show that to date
in the ncighborhoOd of I, 500, OOG copies of
these books have been sold in this country
alone.
Unless | am greatly mistaken this num-
Der is largely in excess of any other series
of books ever issued, and certainly, by all
odds, the largest in the short space of time
mentioned.
Xxx
OF course, every one who reads newspa-
pers has heard Of PCci'S Sun, of George w.
| Peck, it's editor and proprietor. and OF the
| mrtyoric career of ''Pcck's Bad Boy
These bad boy sketches gave his paper a
| yreat boom, made him an Independent
fortune and sold his books from one end
Of the country to the other. MIR. Peck
bad been writing funny things for twenty
wears and was recognized rs Il humOriSt OF
no small caliher, but he never seemed to
strike a craze until he began telling about
his bad boy. He frankly admits that his
( great streak OtluCk was due To the mereSt
accident which he worked for all ii was
worth. One day five years ago MIR. Peck'S
son came into his office and told him q
Joke 2 boy named Watson had played OH
his father. II seems the Watson boy had
written Il note to his father in a feminine
hand. signing it Daisy" The young lady
told Mr.. Watson she Was very much III
love with him and asked that he meet her
at the postO!liCe corner the ~ afternoon.
Then the mother was told about the pros
s~pectiye meeting, and with her son was on
hand at the hour named. The old gentle
man was there, but Daisy was not, and
the irute wife appeared for her. \ terrible
scene ensued, and but for the bad
boys confession a divorce would have re-
suited. Mr.. Peek wrote up the incident,
using assumed names, in a humorous vein,
and the article was copied in thousands OF
papers, ConvulSing readers from one end OF
the country to the other. The sketch
made such an instantaneous hit that Mr..
Peck followed it up with Il series in the
same vein, using the same bad boy in ali
Of them, and these stories of youthful pre-
coclty and cuSScdneSs made the writer
famous and rich. In less than Il years
time the circulation OF Mr.. Pcck'S paper
Jumped from a few thousand TO 80, 600, and
Il dozen presses were kept runningday and
night To supply the demand for the
reprint OF the bad hoy StorieSin book form.
Peck suddenly found himself famous. lie
WAS wined aud dinCd by everybody who
could yet hold of him. lie received flat
tCrirg offers TO write for prominent east
cru papers, and hC VAS invited and impor-
tuned to attend hanquctS in I'LL Of the large
cities from New York to San Francisco.
Yachts, cows, horses, cigars, hats, cravats
and other things were named after him,
and money fairly poured in OF him, all on
account OF the bai boy business.
~
The writer was not the only one who